Chapter 45 Established Microsoft China R&D Group

On January 18, 2006, Zhang Yaqin, who had just returned to China, called together his colleagues at the Sigma Research Institute. Colleagues from Shanghai and Shenzhen also connected to the large conference room of Sigma via video.Soon, Microsoft President Ballmer announced a piece of news that is undoubtedly a blockbuster in the IT industry: "We have finally found the 'secret recipe' for long-term success in China. China will be Microsoft's largest overseas R&D base. Microsoft will The 'Microsoft China Research and Development Group' was formally established, with Dr. Zhang Yaqin as the chairman."

The media raised questions: What kind of organization is the "Research and Development Group"? This organizational form has never appeared in the management forms of Microsoft Corporation at all levels around the world. Technology center and other various product research and development institutions located in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. "It's good to see the water shining brightly, and the mountain scenery to be empty and rainy is also strange." In 2009, Zhang Yaqin and his management team took a walk by the West Lake in Hangzhou with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. (From left: Ballmer, Shen Xiangyang, Zhang Yaqin, Liang Nianjian, Zhang Hongjiang)

Ballmer further stated: "The establishment of Microsoft China R&D Group is another milestone in Microsoft's long-term investment and development in China. Microsoft will unswervingly increase investment in China's R&D capabilities to satisfy Chinese and global users. There is a growing demand for scientific and technological innovation. The establishment of Microsoft China Research and Development Group marks that Microsoft has built a complete software innovation ecosystem in China. Our goal is to build Microsoft in China with the largest investment and the most complete functions outside the United States. , the innovation base with the most complete institutional setup. We believe that Dr. Zhang Yaqin and his management team will definitely usher in a new era of Microsoft's research and development in China."

Although both Gates and Ballmer emphasized that the establishment of the "China R&D Group" is a strategic move by Microsoft with an eye on the world and the future, the media's interpretation of Microsoft's move is still at the level of "the ultimate battle between Zhang Yaqin and Lee Kai-fu" . The "war" between two companies and two scientists has already surpassed business and technology, and has become a social topic. When Zhang Yaqin first returned to China in early January, he temporarily lived in the Jade Palace Hotel near the Sigma Building.When checking in, the waiter was happy to see his name, and asked him while going through the formalities: "Are you back to compete with Kai-fu Lee?" Not sure what "PK" means.Now the establishment of Microsoft China R&D Group is inevitable, and it is not surprising that the media have speculated like this.

When I met with reporters, there were a series of questions like "PK". In the face of aggressive media, Zhang Yaqin did not deny that he would compete with Kai-fu Lee in terms of talent recruitment after his return, but the real important reason for his return this time was "to establish Microsoft China R&D Group will unify all R&D institutions in China, and we hope to innovate more quickly and greatly enhance the strength and scale of China's R&D team, which is determined by the environment of Microsoft in China and the world." One is that China already has a large number of excellent IT talents.The number of graduate students majoring in computer science in China is five times that of the United States and twice that of India.In the United States, recruiting talents has become the most troublesome problem for various high-tech companies.The achievements of Microsoft China Research Institute in the past six years have won the appreciation of Gates and Ballmer.

The second is that China's economy is in a period of rapid development. "It is already the world's largest mobile communication market, and it is also the world's largest home appliance market." In terms of the number of Internet users (110 million in 2006) and the PC market, China has jumped to the second place in the world. "In three to five years, there will be Overtake the United States to become the number one in the world." Such a huge market requires a unified R&D organization for coordinated deployment. The third is that Microsoft's research and development in China has a history of nearly 10 years, and has made many remarkable achievements. "Now the conditions for integration are ripe."

Zhang Yaqin said frankly to the reporter: "Going back to China is entirely my own wish, and it has nothing to do with this matter (Kai-fu Lee's job-hopping). Microsoft has and will continue to increase its investment in China. This is actually Microsoft's commitment to China. The confidence and importance of the market is also the affirmation of outstanding Chinese talents. I was born in Shanxi Province and received education in China. My feelings for China are the feelings of an ordinary Chinese for the motherland. Two years ago, I went to the headquarters in China to do mobile communications. It was a very rare experience. It is very natural to come back now, and I am glad that I have the opportunity to return to China.”

In fact, Zhang Yaqin said "this is the biggest opportunity", and a report in "IT Manager World" at the time wrote: "Seven years ago, Microsoft had entered a critical period of strategic transformation. Microsoft was marching into digital entertainment, the Internet, mobile computing and other fields. China R&D Group is the most complete overseas organization of Microsoft, with the most comprehensive business layout and R&D investment. The largest research and development institution. We are doing research that can be commercialized, which is the biggest difference. In the past 7 years, I can say that Microsoft Research Asia has become a world-class basic research institution, but it is not yet in product research and development. And this is exactly That’s what I’m trying to do.”

In fact, the direction he said is already related to the future of Microsoft.So far, although Microsoft's Windows operating system and Office software still have a commendable market share, it seems that this success has never been summarized as "a broad market brought about by technological innovation".When it comes to technological innovation, people's first reaction is usually Google, open source software, or an Internet upstart. Zhang Yaqin seems to have come to accept this challenge from the very beginning.This scientist, known as "the wealth of the world", has been working hard to change the model of Microsoft Research Institute in a low-key manner for seven years, helping the aircraft carrier to break through to sail to the blue ocean.When Zhang Yaqin talked about Microsoft's booming mobile and embedded product department and China R&D Group, which has developed from Microsoft China Research Institute to Microsoft's second largest research base in the world in the past seven years, a bright smile flashed across his face.

This is a smile that can reassure Gates, just as Gates often said to Zhang Yaqin, "Go do it! (You do it!)" In August, Zhang Yaqin will return to Beijing with all these things. My dream is to make products in China that conquer the world.This time, Gates no longer had to ask him to "Go do it". "Han Xin leads troops, the more the better", those who can truly take on great responsibilities will never feel afraid to take on heavy responsibilities.Zhang Yaqin likes a challenge.Sitting in the office on the sixth floor of Sigma, he felt that the dream in his heart gradually became clear.Zhang Yaqin has positioned three major missions for Microsoft China R&D Group:

The first is to become the core base of Microsoft's global basic scientific research, technological innovation and product development. Zhang Yaqin is very confident about this, because in the past seven or eight years, the achievements of Microsoft Asia Research Institute under his leadership have surprised Gates time and time again.But now the establishment of the R&D group can get greater support from the headquarters.Zhang Yaqin plans to invest at least US$100 million in the R&D group every year in the future, and expand the number of employees in the R&D group from the current 800 to 3,000 within 3 to 5 years. The second is to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with Chinese industry colleagues, and cultivate a group of leading figures in scientific and technological innovation with international perspectives and large-scale project management experience for China.To this end, the R&D Group has also set up a strategic cooperation department, focusing on establishing strategic partnerships with domestic excellent IT companies, such as software outsourcing, technology transfer and product cooperation. The third is to deeply explore the needs of emerging markets represented by China.Make highly localized R&D for unique application models in emerging markets, and then promote technology and product achievements to China and other regions of the world.In Zhang Yaqin's mind, Microsoft's research and development in China can only be considered successful if it designs products for the Chinese market and drives the development of China's IT industry. "Our research considers global users, but at the same time we must pay attention to Chinese users and achieve localization of research. Microsoft China R&D Group will also pay more attention to cooperation with domestic technology, education and industry circles, and jointly explore solutions suitable for China's development. Product development and scientific research projects, especially collaborations in the fields of mobile technology and embedded systems, Internet services and digital entertainment.” The establishment of Microsoft China R&D Group also officially opened the "dual-core" structure of Microsoft in China.Zhang Yaqin and Chen Yongzheng, CEO of Microsoft Greater China, each performed their duties, and R&D and business went hand in hand, starting to create Microsoft's "golden age" in China.This is also the first time that Microsoft has two global vice presidents in a country other than the United States at the same time, which shows that Microsoft headquarters attaches great importance to China. With the mission, the next step is to determine the course.Zhang Yaqin locked five fields: 1. Mobile communications and embedded systems—making people the center of the digital world, allowing communication and exchanges to transcend barriers of time, space and equipment. 2. Internet technology products and services—enabling commercial organizations and individuals to search, select and process information resources distributed around the world more efficiently. 3. Digital entertainment—to make the digital entertainment experience more exciting. 4. Servers and tools—Let the IT information system fully release the business potential of the enterprise. 5. Emerging markets - to enable customers in emerging markets to obtain more advanced and more "personal" technologies, products and solutions. Gates and Ballmer developed three indicators to measure the achievements of Microsoft China R&D Group: 1. First, have you hired first-class talents? 2. Second, whether it has a strong innovation ability is really the source of Microsoft's innovation. 3. The third is how much contribution it has made to the industrial ecosystem and the Chinese market. According to these three standards, Zhang Yaqin used "RIDE" to summarize the functions of Microsoft China R&D Group. R is for Research (Research), I is for Incubation (Incubation), D is for Product Development (Development), and E is for Industrial Cooperation (Ecosystem).Microsoft China R&D Group will comprehensively build a value innovation chain covering basic research, technology incubation, product development, strategic cooperation and other multiple fields, and demonstrate China's R&D strength to the world. Basic research is a long-term exploration focusing on the future of technology and industry. It is based on the company's existing technology accumulation and will profoundly affect the future of the company and even the entire industry.For Microsoft, basic research will strengthen its core technology accumulation in multiple fields and optimize the application experience of hundreds of millions of users around the world in the future.What will the computer of the future look like?Microsoft people will answer: "It is not only a tool for viewing, listening, and learning, but also a partner who can communicate with human beings in natural language." For this goal, every member of basic research devotes himself to work with great enthusiasm , laying a solid foundation for satisfying people's desire for more computing technology in the next 5-10 years. At present, the basic research of Microsoft China R&D Group involves many fields, including: a new generation of multimedia, namely network multimedia, multimedia computing, information system and management, etc. Adapt to the environment and rely on interactive operations to transmit quickly and reliably in the network; the new generation of user interface, that is, multi-channel user interface, voice technology and natural language, etc., "talks" with the machine in multiple ways by pioneering new technologies , as natural as chatting with friends; wireless and network technology, that is, for wireless networks, by getting rid of the shackles of wires, the powerful computing power and multimedia applications of the PC era are extended to the wireless network environment to achieve real end-to-end services; Digital entertainment technology, that is, network graphics, visual computing, voice, wireless and network technology, etc., strives to create a new digital entertainment technology with network, interactivity and authenticity, which fully satisfies the rich imagination of human beings and fully reflects people's individuality Demand; Internet search and data mining, that is, through the combination of technologies such as data mining, machine learning and knowledge discovery, and the process of information analysis, organization, retrieval and visualization, so as to raise the current Internet search to a new level. Technology product incubation is an important bridge connecting basic scientific research and mature products, and plays an important role in the entire innovative industrial chain.In this field, the main mission of Microsoft China R&D Group is to create key technologies and incubate core products relying on the rich scientific research results bred by Microsoft's research institutes in North America, Asia, and Europe.At the same time, design and develop new technologies, products and services for China, the most potential emerging market in the world. The incubation team of Microsoft China R&D Group is committed to exploring more market opportunities arising from technology integration under the specific environment in China, and incubating new products and services centered on end users, covering mobile devices, network services and communications service and more.At present, Microsoft China R&D Group has completed the incubation and research and development of some key technologies and important functional modules of many Microsoft core products. Microsoft China R&D Group focuses on more independent technology and product research and development, is committed to strengthening innovation capabilities, deepening "China's excavation", constantly exploring new technologies, releasing new product functions, and discussing new business models.At the same time, transplant Microsoft's first-class product R&D experience and development process to China, rely on China's unique human resources, and work with partners to develop internationally competitive software and hardware products and solutions. Currently, the R&D projects of Microsoft China R&D Group involve five major R&D directions: mobile communications and embedded systems, Internet technology products and services, digital entertainment, servers and tools, and emerging markets.Based on the research and development in the above fields, Microsoft China R&D Group has made significant contributions to many Microsoft core products including Windows Vista, Office2007, and Exchange2007. Through strategic investment, technology authorization, joint R&D, software outsourcing and talent training, Microsoft China R&D Group not only expands the innovation capability of Microsoft China's R&D system, but also enhances the R&D strength of local IT companies, and builds a harmonious and win-win IT in China. The industrial ecosystem helps local partners to rank among the world's first-class IT companies, and ultimately promotes the rise of China's information industry in the world. The strategic cooperation aims to establish a long-term and trustworthy cooperative relationship with customers and partners; to demonstrate Microsoft's advanced technology and bring new technological enjoyment to domestic users; to achieve win-win results with customers and partners.To this end, based on the original Microsoft China Technology Center, Microsoft China R&D Group established the Strategic Cooperation Department of Microsoft China R&D Group, focusing on establishing strategic partnerships with domestic excellent IT companies. Strengthen cooperation on the one hand; and promote comprehensive cooperation with Chinese academia, industry and the government. While expanding the product development capabilities of Microsoft China R&D Group, enhance the R&D strength of local software companies, so as to jointly create a common development and win-win situation for all parties. Industrial ecological environment. Yaqin's words: Life is like playing a game, uncertainty and the process of overcoming every problem is the happiest.